Just a note on what ajax said, I prefer tables with descriptions like
Code:
Country
idCountry CountryName
1 USA
2 Mexico
and store the idCountry in any table where it's relevant even if the list is short because of the correction in spelling issue ajax mentioned.
I counteract that by having an 'options' table
i.e.
Code:
tblOption
Opt_ID Opt_Group Opt_Desc Opt_Sort
1 GeneralYN
2 6 Yes 1
3 6 No 2
4 Phase
5 4 Phase 1 1
6 4 Phase 2 2
7 4 Phase 3 3
8 4 Phase 4 4
so all my options with simple descriptions are on one table and I pull up the options based on the option group (generalYN, Phase, etc.).
I also do not favor setting up relationships through the database itself, but that is a personal preference, it is not a necessary step but may help you in the early stages of your database building.